?IIMs must first meet domestic demand?

GIVING A new twist to the ongoing controversy surrounding the Union Government?s refusal to give permission to IIM Bangalore to start a campus in Singapore, Reliance Industries Chairman and Managing Director Mukesh Ambani said that the Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) should first meet the demands of the country before going abroad to open branches.

GIVING A new twist to the ongoing controversy surrounding the Union Government’s refusal to give permission to IIM Bangalore to start a campus in Singapore, Reliance Industries Chairman and Managing Director Mukesh Ambani said that the Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) should first meet the demands of the country before going abroad to open branches.

However, he hastened to add that, “there is no question of either or (either this or that). India has reached a stage where it is this and that.” Buttonholed by journalists at the premises of IIM campus here today, Ambani said management institutes in the country should first increase their capacity to satisfy domestic demand before going global.

Mukesh Ambani, who is the Chairman of the Board of Governors of IIM Bangalore, said the Reliance Industries will come to IIM Indore campus for recruitment. He said Indore, for that matter all the cities in the country, would see unprecedented growth in the next 10 years. “Our cities will grow at such a pace in the next 10 years that it will surpass the growth of last 50 years,” he said.

He said that business management education would no longer be the preserve of traditional business schools as education companies, executive development centres, consulting firms and corporate universities would enter this segment in a big way. Backing his statement, Ambani said that top mangers of RIL would be present on IIM campus for about a fortnight and the students would benefit in more ways than one from their expertise.

The management institutions would have to urgently work on development of space and structures to meet the demands of the emerging sectors of Indian economy.

New technological devices would have to be brought in use enabling the institution to impart education in a multiple format. Multiple campuses, on-site campuses, part time and weekend courses, cross campus courses and e-learning formats would have to be encouraged.

It would be essential to incorporate faculty with global exposure. As the growth of management education the world over was phenomenal, ways had to be evolved to encourage home grown talent to pursue doctoral and post-doctoral programmes.

New strategies had to be evolved to retain the best talent in this field and taking academically oriented executives from business organisations could be an answer to this matter of serious concern.